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Apparition Author(s): Yukio Lippit Source: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 55/56, Absconding (Spring - Autumn, 2009), pp. 61-86 Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25608836 . Accessed: 20/07/2014 21:15

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YUKIO LIPPIT

An episode from the second chapter of the Zhuangzi, was used in reference to theworks of the Chan (J.) just before the famous parable concerning Zhuang monk Zhirong (1114-1193), who was known above all Zhou's dream of the butterfly, involves a conversation for his pictorial renderings of oxen and Chan Buddhist between Penumbra and Shadow: exemplars. As related by a colophon on one such a latermonk, (1164-1246): Penumbra said to Shadow, "A littlewhile ago you were painting by Beijian Jujian "Critics say thatOld Man works will not endure walking and now you're standing still; a littlewhile ago you Rong's because are so their ink is so Hence were sittingand now you're standing up.Why this lackof they vague, pale. call his works independent action?" they apparition painting (wanglianghua)."2 Shadow said, "Do I have towait forsomething before I In classical texts wangliang appears to have designated can be like this?Does what Iwait foralso have towait for not only the idea of a penumbra, but of a "shadow before itcan be like this?Am I for the a a something waiting of shadow," ghostly, tenuous quality that defies scales of a snake or the of a cicada? How do I know or wings easy description representation, which iswhy it is why it is so? How do I know why it isn'tso?"1 as translated here "apparition."3 Unfortunately, because none of have there is no At issue in this exchange is a normative of Zhirong's survived, of their first-hand.4 But modern causation that assumes Shadow's dependence upon way assessing pallor scholars of Chinese have that of which it is a shadow for itsown actions, much painting observed that textual a of inkwork accord well with a like snake upon its scales or a cicada upon itswings. descriptions Zhirong's of a dozen or so of Chan This tethering of the logic of causality to local, physical, group approximately paintings all from the thirteenth that have and immediately observable phenomena is just one figural subjects, century, survived in collections.5 example of the type of simplistic worldview that is Japanese Despite postdating consistently object of derision in the Zhuangzi. Both Penumbra and their Shadow, through very immateriality, 2. From "Scroll Painting of Scattered Holy Men by Old Man those of in-betweenness personify precisely qualities Rong" (Lao Rong sansheng hua zhou), found in Beijian wen/7, juan and that the in insubstantiality problematize dualistic 8, Zhibuzuzhai congshu, comp. Bao Tingbo (Taibei, 1964). The full understanding of cosmic processes. colophon is discussed below. The English translation is based upon an was earlier version by Yoshiaki Shimizu in "What to Such the classical exchange invoked during Happened Wang-liang hua in ni okeru no vol. 7 of 's Southern (1127-1279) to describe (Moryoga)?" Toyo bijutsu eikyo mondai, Song period International on Art Historical Studies a Symposia (1988):65-73. kind of rendered in such ink that it 3. term painting pale My understanding of this is particularly indebted to on indistinction. More two verged complete specifically, the studies by Zhuangzi specialists on the "Penumbra and Shadow" as SeeYamada Nihon word wangliang (commonly translated "penumbra"), parable. Katsumi, "Moryo ko/' Chugoku gakkai ho 3 and name to one (1951):53-63; and Koma Miyoshi, "Moryo to no taiwa ni tsuite/' the given of the parable's principals, kage Bunrin\5 (March 1981): 1-16. 4. A paintingtitled Herdboy and Buffalo(Muniu tu)attributed to This essay is based on a delivered at to Heaven: A in the Kozo Yabumoto paper "Bridges Zhirong Collection (Amagasaki, ) has been on East Asian Art inHonor of Professor Wen C. at Symposium Fong," published several times, most notably by James Cahill, but is difficult to Princeton in 2006. The author would like to thankWen as to University April accept proximate the mode of painting under discussion here. See Fong and the of the Dora and Jerome 12-14th as organizers symposium, Ching Cahill, Sogen-ga: Century Collected and Silbergeld, and express toYoshiaki Shimizu for in of special appreciation Appreciated Japan (University California, Berkeley: The University him to the of introducing subject apparition painting. Jonathan Hay Museum, 1982), p. 33, pi. 29. Itakura Masaaki, Francesco Pellizzi, and offered valuable 5. The modern of Eugene Wang usage "apparition painting" (moryoga) begins advice and are here. with Shimada in a gratefully acknowledged Shujiro seminal two-part essay "Moryoga," Bijutsu 1. Translation Burton Watson in The Works of 84 86 by Complete kenkyu (December 1938):4-13 and (February 1939):8-16, Tzu (New York and London: Columbia Chuang University Press, 1968), laterreprinted in Shimada Shujiro,Chugoku kaigashikenkyu (: p. 49. The comes at the end of the "Discussion on All Chuokoron exchange Making Bijutsu Shuppan, 1993), pp. 112-135. All subsequent Equal" the second of the Outer the Things chapter, Chapters. inquiry, including present article, is heavily indebted to this study.

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Zhirong by several generations, they reflect his artistry insofar as itcan be inferred from Song commentary, most notably in the following ways: 1) an extraordinarily pale use of ink to depict subject matter; 2) jet-black accents to the face and select attributes; 3) a blank background; and 4) a relatively detailed rendering of the face, combined with abbreviated brushwork for the clothing. Following Zhuangzi's cue, these works have come to be referred to as apparition painting. In turn, apparition painting an a & has become important organizing principle for ^ il & k m type of painting associated with Chan/Zen one in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, thatwent . ? ^ Y^ 5? unrecognized in laterChinese aesthetic discourse and survived into the modern era only because of its | 1 41 canonization in the Japanese archipelago. The paintings thus designated are among the most remarkable works of figure painting from any tradition. A representative example is The Sixth Patriarch Carrying a Pole, in the Daitokyu Memorial Library inTokyo (fig. 1). Executed by the obscure monk-painter Zhiweng Ruojing and inscribed by the prominent Chan abbot Yanxi Guangwen (1189-1263), this painting dates to sometime between 1254 and 1256. Its subject isHuineng, the legendary sixth patriarch of Chan * - < ** Buddhism, captured in a celebrated episode from his -\ \ '<* f, youth recorded in Song-period hagiographies. According to these accounts, when still a woodcutter supporting a feeble mother, embarked on a path to awakening when one day, while selling brushwood in ' the city market, he became mesmerized by a distant intonation of the Diamond .6 The Sixth Patriarch captures thismoment of auditory immersion and H* 4 spiritual enchantment. Against the void of an unpainted background, Huineng stands inert,bearing a pole on his leftshoulder, an axe and rope to secure brushwood dangling from it.The rapt expression of his face, as well as the absence of tension in his body?as suggested by his slumped neck and shoulders and the dead weight of his leftforearm bearing down on the pole?indicate the patriarch's total absorption in thewafting incantation. Huineng's enthrallment is also suggested by his otherworldly faintness. The brushstrokes constituting his robe, and even more so those of his face, hands, and

can 6. Legends concerning the Sixth Patriarch be found in his entries in the earliest surviving transmission records (lamp histories), such as Record of the Patriarch's Hall {Zutang ji; compiled in 952) and 1. mid-thirteenth The Jingde-Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingde chuangdeng Figure Zhiweng Ruojing (act. century), see Patriarch a ca. lu; compiled in 1004). On Huineng's biography, The Sixth Carrying Pole, 1254-1256. , trans. on x of the Sixth Patriarch, Philip Yampolsky (New York: Columbia ink paper, 92.5 31.0 cm. Daitokyu Memorial Library, 58-88. University Press, 1967), pp. Tokyo.

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t, ^ ifi ::f

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Figure 2. The Sixth PatriarchCarrying a Pole, detail of figure 1.

feet, are executed in an exceedingly low saturation of ink, so much so that the details of figuration are fully perceived only with difficulty (fig. 2). The painting's dimness isonly accentuated by the black touches of ink applied to the figure's upper eyelids, pupils, nostrils, 3. Attributed to Zhifu (act. thirteenth and inner ear. These obsidian have the effect of Figure century),, sparks ca. on x cm. 1251-1254. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 83.9 32.1 inspiriting the otherwise lacklusterwoodcutter, instilling Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya. radiant embers of presence into an otherwise ashen face, and providing the viewer with points of engagement to an otherwise engaged subject. The highly abbreviated brushwork and lack of setting furtherenhance the sense of with Chan/Zen Buddhism, the Budai (J.Hotei) of this one an ethereal, incorporeal figure, a wraith-like form slowly version sitswith knee raised, looking towards a on blanching into vacancy. Shadow of a shadow indeed. his leftand tugging with his hand at bag which a Two furtherexamples, both close in date to The young child slumbers.7 Like The Sixth Patriarch, Sixth Patriarch, similarly portray exemplars of Chan Buddhist awakening. Budai (fig. 3) depicts the legendary 7. Budai, in theTokugawa Art Museum collection, is flanked by eccentric whose name ("Cloth refers to portly Bag") two later scrolls depicting Chan monks mending their robes (right the sack that him on his see large typically accompanies scroll) and reading under moonlight (left scroll); Suzuki Shinobu, peregrinations. A popular subject in painting associated "Den Ko Chokufu hitsu Hotei zu, Mujuji hitsu ChoyoTaigetsu zu

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Budai is painted against a blank background in highly distilled tones of monochrome ink,with only select details of his face darkened along with a winding piece of rope at the end of his staff. on a Reed (fig.4), a work like Budai in theTokugawa Art Museum (Nagoya, Japan), depicts the firstChinese patriarch of in a legendary anecdote that describes his crossing of the Yangtze River on a single reed.8 Here, too, thewispy, silvery indistinction of the overall figure is interrupted only by glimmers of sparkling, deeply saturated ink applied to Bodhidharma's facial features. Both paintings differ in notable ways from The Sixth Patriarch. The brushwork in Budai, for example, undulates and is slightly more stylized, with a kind of blotting, erasive technique used for facial hair, whereas that of Bodhidharma on a Reed is slender and elongated. These distinctions, however, are trumped by the qualities shared among all threeworks, ones closely associated with apparition painting: a pianissimo of ink tone relieved only by scintilla of black accents in select areas; a void background with no details of setting; and a combination of shorthand brushwork on clothing and relatively meticulous?if still hueless and obscure?rendering of the face. This combination results in remarkably self-dissembling images that somehow compromise their own visibility. Apparition painting appears to capture its subjects inmid-fade, as ifmanaging to preserve only a dimly translucent afterimage of a bygone entity. In so doing, itseems to propose a certain implausibility to its subjects. This general disposition, itwill be argued here, holds the key to itsbleached, subtractive and . ^ understanding tonality ,\ *i ^ threshold absenteeism. - ' The present study proposes that the washed-out profile . -in v of apparition painting was calibrated to exhibit a new type of discursive voice associated with Chan Buddhism the The of this voice was during Song period. engineering Figure4. Attributed toWuzhun Shifan (11 78-1249), a collective project of the Chan establishment and came Bodhidharma on a Reed, ca. firsthalf of thirteenthcentury. on x cm. to be associated with the contrarian but penetrating Hanging scroll, part of triptych,ink paper, 89.1 32.0 Art Tokugawa Museum, Nagoya.

ni kansuru ichikosatsu?sono kaiga hyogen ni okeru kyotsusei?," are Bijutsushi ronsd2'\ (2005):75-90. The flanking scrolls discussed zu no in Shiga Taro, "Mujuji hitsu ChoyoTaigetsu tsuifuku shudai to As sakusha," Kinko sosho 34 (2008):91-127. insightof the fully enlightened Chan/Zen monk. a 8. Bodhidharma on a Reed is also part of triptych of scrolls, all such, itevoked an impious but illumined subject inscribed the Chan abbot Wuzhun Shifan (1178-1249); by prominent position manifesting the intuitive grasp and singular the flanking scrolls depict the legendary Chan monks Yushanzhu ("The of the claimed by members Master of Mount Yu"; scroll) and of the understanding right Zhang Huangniu ("Zheng of the Chan in an of different Yellow Ox"; left scroll). These and other works are discussed in Itakura . Expressed array no various forms of Chan and Masaaki's important entries inNanso kaiga?saijo gachi sekai, ed. mediums, including oratory Nezu Institute of Fine Arts Nezu Institute of Fine was (Tokyo: Arts, 2004). literature, itsmost impressive material manifestation

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in the verse inscriptions that accompanied ink paintings. The biographical account inquestion, "Concerning There thewords of prominent abbots conveyed in theOld Ox [Painter]Zhirong" (Shu LaoniuZhirong own a colloquial but allusive language their unique shi), is undated but reads like lengthy,eulogizing a some purchase on the Buddha's , intended both to remembrance, possibly preface to sort of edify patrons and inspire practitioners. compilation relating to the monk-painter.12 There the can Although the Chan/Zen subject position could bare facts of his life be gleaned: Zhirong died in a accompany a wide spectrum of painting subjects, itwas 1193 at the age of eighty; he was born to family of set most effectively to a select group of exemplars?an doctors in who relocated to Lin'an (), eccentric and offbeat cast of mostly legendary characters the newly designated imperial capital/after the Jurchen recruited to the Chan corps from a variety of sources? invasion of 1127; he practiced medicine by the name whose nonconformity underscored the enchantment of of Xing Cheng and had entree to the imperial court; as Chan practice. These exemplars served foils against in 1163, at the age of fifty,he took vows?leaving which inscriptions could query the common sense and family and court rank behind?and entered Lingyin si grandiloquence of theworld. And among the many ink monastery overlooking Lin'an's ; thereafter he painting modes inwhich these figureswere depicted, traveled widely to the major monasteries and sacred sites apparition painting proved to be the most finely attuned of the Jiangnan region before spending his final years at to the richmodulations and teasing timbre of this parole. the Buddhist monastery Zisheng si on Mount Xuedou Its infinitelyfaint tones offered a pitch-perfect prompt near the port city of Siming. on own forChan commentary its special transmission of Lou's text casts its subject as a cultivated gentleman reassess the Dharma. The pages that follow apparition and master painter.13 The monk Zhirong is introduced painting by appraising the historical, artistic, and as a noble recluse sequestered on Mt. Xuedou, a a ideological contexts within which the staging of Chan "gentleman of theWay" (you dao zhi shi) whose words as a subject position emerged primary focus of Chan are full of "spirit resonance" (qiyun). Lou describes new pictorial production. In doing so, they aspire to his painting according to a variation on a common on testimony the challenges of understanding and experiencing thismost inscrutable of painting traditions. was on The latter well positioned to be a commentator Zhirong's artistry; his collected include numerous texts and Shimada was the firstto out a writings colophons Shujiro map genealogy to paintings, reflecting the degree to which he was interested in and of a apparition painting by excavating Song-period knowledgeable of the brush arts. Born into prominent family from on the southeastern coastal of as in testimony the elusive Zhirong.9 As discussed by city Mingzhou (later known Siming, Shimada, the most informative account of the monk present-day province), Lou also appears to have had ties to the venerable Buddhist monasteries in on is found in a text the literatus many located the region, Mt. painter biographical by and Mt. Xuedou. Lou Yue a (1137-1213), official and Lou to are high-ranking Yue's close ties the religious community underscored by of the Lou Yue firstmet on a acquaintance monk-painter.10 his eulogies pair of Song portraits at Sennyuji monastery in , or The Priest Yuanzhao and The Zhirong in either 1184 1185 and appears to have had Master Daoxuan. These works, occasional contact with him until the latter'sdeath.11 inscribed in 1210 and taken to Japan by the Japanese Ritsu sect monk Shunj6(1166-1227) the following year, are discussed in Susan H. Bush and Victor H. Mair, "Some Buddhist Portraits and Images of the Lu in and Ch'an Sects Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century China," Archives 9. See Shimada, "Moryoga" (note 5). of Asian Art 31 (1977-1978):32-51. For an extensive discussion in 10. The career of Lou a holder 1163 relation to East Asian see Yue, jinshi degree from who portraiture practice, Ogawa Hiromitsu, served as vice minister the zo eventually prime during middle Southern "Sennyuji Shunjo risshi, Nanzan daishi, Daichi risshi zosanpuku? is summarized Shiba Yoshinobu in Song, by Sung Biographies, ed. Toyo kaiga ni okeru renpuku hyogen no mondai?," pp. 67-108 in Herbert Franke Franz no (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1976), pp. 668-672. Nihon kaigashi kenkyu, ed. Yamane Yuzo koki kinenkai a Studies that explore Lou Yue in cultural context include Kanda (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1989). to inKamakura seiritsu no 12. Lou Kaichiro, "ShunjoRisshi shodo," bukkyo While Yue only knew Zhirong for the last ten years or so ed. Ishida of the monk's he states that textwas kenkyu?Shunjo Risshi, Mitsuyuki (Kyoto: Hozokan, 1972), life, his supplemented by material and Dotsu "'Hokkanshu' ni mirareru R6 no to a pp. 271-280; Ayano, Yaku provided him by disciple of Zhirong, as was the case inmany bunkateki kansuru 39 such For more on see eikyoni ichikosatsu," Shugaku kenkyu (March writings. Gongkui ji, Ishii Shudo, "'Kogishu' ni mirareru 1997):276-281. Zenshu shiryo?Toshi Gisei no hokei o chushin to shite?," 11. A on total of five painting inscriptions Zhirong's works are Tdhushukyo 39 (April1972):32^9. recorded in Lou Yue's collected in the 13. The full text can be in Gongkui ji, writings compiled found Gongkui ji, juan 8 (see note 11), Sibu Commercial 61. is congkan (Shanghai: Press, 1919-1936), vol. and reprinted in Shimada, Chugoku (see note 5), p. 114.

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detail?" this is an ancient encomium, stating that "whereas painters of old may Zhirong replied, "Although saying, when to do it, it is not the same.What Icall 'two have cherished ink like gold, Zhirong cherished it like you try strokes' in is the of first the life itself."14Themonk's works are "desolate and tranquil" figurepainting necessity painting subject's eyelids. Ifthese two strokesare satisfactorythe rest (jiliao xiaosan) and yet filled with "vitality and dynamic will follow naturallyand the paintingwill be completed, full movement" (shengyi feidong). To enhance the aura of of vitality."16 his subject's artistry,Lou includes several examples of a the monk's image magic, including a painted dragon Zhirong's emphasis on the necessity of beginning that induces rain and painted demons that scare away figurepainting with theeyelids and of determiningthe mountain snakes, but for the most part the author strains sense of vitality in a given representation from thismotif nature now to characterize Zhirong according to the standards is significant when considering the of his oeuvre. of loftyamateurism. Thus, he is compared to the lost The passage above suggests that the eyes aura celebrated poetTao Qian (365-427), who "composed were the epicenter of the figure's of inhabitation. poetry without volition, simply expressing the marvels Although this idea held common currency inChinese in his breast" and to the famous painter (ca. painting practice throughout the premodern period? were 345-ca. 406), whom Zhirong resembled in his habit of religious icons often consecrated by dotting the an was in "chew[ing] sugarcane upside down," expression of eyes, and portraiture discourse explicit situating essence his cultivated violation of convention.15 And for good the locus of the depicted sitter's therein? an measure, Lou asserts that to admire Zhirong's paintings Zhirong's comments offer intriguingobliquity to this as was to admire the painter, just as had claimed understanding by specifically mentioning the eyelid All of the ofWen Tong, thus comparing his subject to the most the master motif of envisagement. surviving consecrate famous scholar painter in literati lore. works associated with apparition painting with of saturated Although Lou's encomium is not overly explicit select features of the face dabs deeply is include in case the regarding the appearance of Zhirong's painting, neither pigment. These every upper a role in itdevoid of suggestion. The ink cherished "like life itself" eyelids, which thus emboldened play leading hints at the subdued tonality common to apparition dramatizing the tenuity of the image. painting. An abbreviated approach is likewise suggested was not an by the observation that "when occasionally he created Zhuangzi's Penumbra, then, arbitrary use more a of now-lost The the image of things, he did not than few characterization Zhirong's figurations. to have been familiar with brushstrokes," and more generally that his brushwork monk Beijian appears highly text "transcended the conventions of ink."These properties apparition painting, and the full of his previously resulted inworks inwhich itwas as if"the formswere cited inscription reflects his high regard for this pictorial But mode:17 already forgotten but their shadows still glowed." the most with to his figure perhaps revealing point regard [The scroll] depicts ten figures,beginning with is a conversation between Lou and painting Zhirong of Jinhuaand ending with Xianzi [theShrimp Eater]. in text: included the former's Their essence and aspect are depicted just as recounted in their The painting has loftythoughts and Once Iasked him ifhe stillpaints figures.He replied, "I am biographies. untrammeled ideas, and is freeof restraints.Old Rong's too old and am no longerable. As my eyes have weakened, I Is Ican no longerdo the two strokemethod. then asked, essence in some this not simply a matter of grasping the 16. Hui-shu Lee called attention to this particular passage in Art York: China Exquisite Moments: West Lake and Southern Song (New Institute 2001), 124. The translation here modifies 14. The Lou Yue variation essentially modifies only the final Gallery, p. slightly her version. character of the second line; see Gongkui ji, juan 8 (note 11). . is associated with 17. active a later than Lou Yue, Beijian may 15. The phrase "chewing sugarcane" closely Although generation who was fond of have been even better with Zhirong's artistry. Beijian's Gu Kaizhi, the epitome of the gentleman-painter, acquainted from the ends toward the on Mt. Xuedou the Chunxi era (1174-1189) and his eating sugarcane in unorthodox fashion, training during one "enter inthe most sweeter midsection. When asked why, he stated that should many peregrinations Siming (Ningbo)region likelybrought more one A of See shu of him into contact with Zhirong on than occasion. total gradually the realm of delights." Fang Xuanling, Jin [History 8:2405 "Gu Kaizhi four references to are found in Beijian's collected the JinJ, 10 vols. (Zhonghua shuju, 1974), (juan 92, Zhirong's painting Ku vol. 2 of zhuan"), trans. Chen Shih-hsiang in Biography of K'ai-chih, writings. as series of In addition, was well versed in scholar painting, Chinese Dynastic Histories Translations (Berkeley: University Beijian attested his on works the Northern California Press, 1961), p. 14. by multiple inscriptions by Song

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brush and inkshow no trace of convention. He has his ox paintings according to a Buddhist hermeneutic. established his own one that isnot to follow. style, easy Not only did they frequently frame images according to Earlier he lived fora time in When his lengthy Siming. the Ten Stages of Oxherding in their inscriptions,21 but paintingswere available, enthusiastswould snatch them on one colophon, Beijian makes a point of discouraging away, and now only thisone scroll remains. Critics say that comparisons between Zhirong's oxen and 's Old Man Rong's works will not endure because they are horses by invoking a famous anecdote concerning the so vague, their ink is so pale. Hence theycall hisworks latter: "Some would associate [these works] with the apparition paintings.18 story of Xiu Guanxi's admonition of Longmian, but this the fact that the term Despite "apparition painting" does not even a laugh from Laozi ."22The reference here reflects a pejorative usage, Beijian's colophon here concerns the monk Faxiu (Xiu Guanxi; offers a of in his It glimpse Zhirong's popularity day 1027-1090), who warned the scholar-painter Li Gonglin also offers into his of matter. From insights range subject (Longmian; 1049-1106) that ifhe did not stop painting to various accounts, Zhirong is known have painted horses, he would be reborn as one, afterwhich Li is oxen, trees, trees, to figures, pine bamboo, plum dragons, said have devoted himself to the painting of religious demons, rocks and cliffs, and of , landscapes icons.23 Beijian alludes to the anecdote to imply that mist and rain. His was linked in to the oxen are reception part Zhirong's not secular images but allegorical of matter. Oxen for question subject painting, example, beasts of a distinctly Chan nature. meant different to different Zhirong's specialty, things From Beijian's time onward, Zhirong's memory audiences. Thus for Lou Yue, beasts of burden were appears to have been kept alive primarily inmonastic associated with scholar and were painting represented circles. His name occasionally surfaces in the recorded a of by specific lineage specialist painters; Zhirong's sayings (yulu) of Chan monks throughout the thirteenth derived from those of Fan Zimin of the Five verse on examples century, mostly in the form of eulogies (907-960).19 Inofficialdom, cattle Dynasties period encountered paintings.24 Significantly, these eulogies were of sentiments of freedom and catalytic pastoral reveal that he had a number of followers, as in the reclusion. At the same time, were they incorporated inscription by Yuansou Xingtan (1261-1341) on a into a menu of Chan Buddhist a or vigorously expanding painting of luohan, Buddhist sage, by the scholar the both as painting subjects during Song, general official (1222-1307?): expressions of spiritual emancipation and as part of a [Zhirong's] legacy has been transmittedin Siming to Hu ten-stage allegory of awakening.20 Beijian and other Zhifu, and inWestern Shu, to theMonk Yuan [Huiyuan]. At faith-based commentators naturally tended to interpret present Iview twelve figurespainted by Gong Cuiyan [Gong Kai] which follow in themanner ofOld Rong; his use of brush and ink does not conform to narrow nor Li convention, scholar-official Gonglin (1049-1106). A total of seven of Beijian's can Hu or Yuan compare with him.25 inscriptions on Li Gonglin works have been recorded. For more on Beijian's cultural and religious significance, see Shiina Koyu, zenseki "Sogenban kenkyu (shichi)?Hokkan goroku geshu bunshu shishu zenshu?," no. 1 21. as Indogaku bukkyogaku kenkyu 33, (Dec. Concerning the Ten Oxherding Stages an interpretive frame and "Hokkan toMossho no chosaku ni kansuru in see 1984):179-183, Chan pictorial inscriptions, Dotsu Ayano, "Nansodai no Rinzaiso shoshiteki kosatsu," Komazawa 46 ni ni daigaku bukkyogakubu kenkyu kiyo yoru kaiga kaishaku tsuite," Zen bunka kenkyujo kiyo 23 (June (March 1988): 196-230; Itakura Masa'aki, "Hokkan Kyokan san Zenzai 1997):203-221. zu," Kokka 1181 Dotsu doji (April 1994):15-21; Ayano, "Hokkanshu" 22. Beijian wenji, juan 8 (see note 2). (see note 10), and "Hokkan no bunkateki ni tsuite," 23. The anecdote can be found in Kyokan soji the Imperial Painting Catalogue Komazawa Zen 9 (1997):233-249. See also of the Xuanhe Era daigaku kenkyujo nenpo (Xuanhe huapu). See Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, in the discussion to follow on The . Huashi Yu Pilgrim Boy congshu, ed. Anlan (Shanghai: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 18. Translation based on that in of Shimizu "What Happened to 1963), vol. 2, pp. 74-79. Wang-liang-hua" (see note 2), p. 66. 24. The monks include Baotan Xiaoyun (dates unknown), Xutang 19. Lou writes: "He was fond of and painting oxen, gave himself Zhiyu (1185-1269), and Xisou Shaotan (d. 1279 or flourished ca. the 'Old Ox It is said that his oxen derived from See sobriquet Zhirong.' 1247-1274). Shimada, "Moryoga" (note 5), pp. 129-135. those of Fan [Zimin], them in their 25. The an one yet surpassed subtlety," Gongkui ji, translation modifies earlier by Yoshiaki Shimizu juan 8 (see note 11). in "What note Happened" (see 2), p. 67. The original is found 20. The semantics of ox are discussed in Scarlett in Recorded painting Jang, Sayings of Chan Master Yuansou Xingtan (Yuansou in the (960-1279)," Artibus Asiae Chanshi in "Ox-herding Painting Sung Dynasty Xingtan yulu), juan 7, Shinsan Dai Nihon zoku zokyo, 52, 1/2 (1992):54-93. See also Yukio Sotatsu and the ed. Kawamura Lippit, "Tawaraya Kosho (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 1986), vol. 71, pp. Water Poetics of Japanese Ink Painting," /??5 51 (Spring 2007):57-76. 541c-542a.

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The association of the monk-painters Huiyuan and Hu by Hu Zhifu, whose name was affixed to hundreds Zhifu mentioned here with apparition painting is echoed of anonymous Chan/Zen figure paintings in Japanese by other testimony.26Yet it is striking thatGong Kai, collections and became associated with the highest otherwise famous as a Song loyalistwho further refined standards of the genre.31 an iconography of resistance toMongol rule during the Authorship, however, is not the most productive early Yuan period, would be understood by Yuansou as avenue of inquiry into apparition painting. Most a are follower of Zhirong. This is certainly not theway he examples unsigned because they tended to be has been situated in standard accounts.27 The casting executed by monk-painters of low monastic rank. of Gong Kai as an apparition painter, however, speaks During the Southern Song period, acolyte artisans of to the intertwined nature of Chan and scholar-official this kind became common presences in the orbits of communities throughout the Song and Yuan periods, prominent abbots, attending to theirmasters' myriad as well as the proximity of the painting modes current pictorial needs. Zhiweng Ruojing isone of few such therein. monk-painters to have impressed his seals on extant Yuansou's colophon represents the last appearance scrolls. Two works that directly reflect the mirage-like of Zhirong's name in the documentary record. As figuralmode under discussion here, The Sixth Patriarch a Shimada has speculated, the inclusion of Gong Kai Carrying Pole (fig. 1), and Budai (fig. 5), ina private among Zhirong's followers may hint at the demise of collection inTokyo, both bear his square vermilion relief more this practice during the early Yuan period through its in the lower-left corner.32 Despite its slightly on absorption into other spheres of painting.28While the stylized drapery folds Budai's robe, the latterwork a fate of apparition painting will be addressed lateron, bears close resemblance in composition and technique can suffice it to say here that of the other monk-painters to other apparition paintings and be considered associated with this pictorial mode?Huiyuan and Hu representative of Zhirong's legacy.33As to be expected, Zhifu?none were listed inChinese painting histories Zhiweng is entirely absent fromChinese painting and no firmlyattributable works have survived.29 Their histories and nothing isotherwise known about his or even in his was memory has only been preserved in Japan, where their biography artistic output; Japan, seal as Sotsuo or until works were brought back by pilgrim monks and became consistently misread Luweng (J. Sotto) an important component of a Zen-inflected continental the mid-twentieth century.34 A more vector into the painting canon unique to the archipelago. Zhirong promising of exploration concerns himself was listed in the Kundaikan sochoki, a Japanese production contexts of apparition paintings connoisseurial manual associated with the Ashikaga the monks who inscribed them. The scrolls that have was shogunal collection.30 He overshadowed, however,

History: Kano Artists, Authors, and Authenticators of the Seventeenth 227-233. 26. Lou Yue, while inscribing Huiyuan's Seven Worthies of the Century" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 2003), pp. master was in note Wintry Forest by Huiyuan, mentions that his "original 31. Hu Zhifu is discussed Shimada, Chugoku (see 5), pp. are in Rei'en Old Rong/' and that accordingly "wind and rain brushed pale 132-133, and Shimizu, "Problems of Moku'an (?1323-1345)" 2 Later on the monk Princeton 258-259. ink." See Gongkui ji, juan (note 11). Xutang (Ph.D. diss., University, 1974), pp. a on an "Ink 32. In Budai bears a second seal with the Zhiyu (1185-1269) would inscribe poetic quatrain Play addition, sobriquet an that the ox to the that the full four by Master Chu of Old Rong Ox/' suggesting Zhirong "Ruojing," leading assumption monk-painter's mid-thirteenth See name is There is still some as was a recognizable stylistic entity by the century. character "Zhiweng Ruojing." question more on RecordedSayings of Chan Master XutangZhiyu (XutangZhiyu Chanshi to what the status is of these names and sobriquets. For the Dai zoku ed. Kawamura Kosho names "Zenso no hoi ni yulu), juan 10, in Shinsan Nihon zokyo, of Chan/Zen monks, seeTamamuraTakeji, vol. 202b. tsuite" and "Zenso inTamamura Nihon Zenshushi (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 1975-1989), 70, p. shogo ko," Takeji, in 21-94. 27. For more on Gong Kai, see Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, "Siyah ronshu jo (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 1976), pp. 3-20, ibid, pp. Painter and a Chinese Painter Itakura's inNanso note Qalem and Gong Kai: An Istanbul Album 33. See entry kaiga (see 8). and Itakura 34. See Tanaka "Sotsuo ni 513 of the Mongolian Period," Muqarnas4 (1987):59-71, Toyozo, tsuite," Bijutsu gaho ni Shinika no Masaaki, "Kyo Kai hitsu 'Shunkotsu zukan' tsuite," Cekkan (1920) (unpaginated),reprinted in Chugoku bijutsu kenkyu(Tokyo: The Kundaikan sochoki lists 9, no. 10 (October 1998):86-91. Nigensha, 1964), pp. 239-241. Zhiweng Yuan and as a 28. See Shimada, Chugoku, (see note 5), p. 131. as active during the period (erroneously) specialist to notes that 29. The same can be said of a thirdmonk-painter, Li Yaofu, in "Budai and other figures." Itakura Masaaki Zhiweng are to in the encomium or whom many Chan/Zen figure paintings in Japan attributed. Ruojing may possibly be referred religious based the Chan monk 30. The manual was compiled during the fifteenth century "dharma words" (C. fawu, J.hogo) of Chijue Daochong Tuhui in his recorded See "Enkei Komon upon a Chinese text, Precious Mirror of Painting (C. baojian, (1169-1250) found sayings. Itakura, to and works found in the collection o 19-24 inNanso preface dated 1365), Ashikaga meguru sakuga?Ryo Kai, Chokuo, Mokkei," pp. Birth of and Kyoto temples. See Yukio Lippit, "The kaiga (note 8).

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is unusually large forChan-related painting and can furthermore be dated with a reasonable amount of a specificity. Yanxi, monk of the Linji lineage, was the 4t vJTf| t if ? recipient of imperial patronage and held abbacies at several of the most important Chan monasteries in the Siming and Lin'an regions.36 Because his affiliations during his late years?at Jinci si (1251-1254), Lingyin si (1254-1256), and Wanshou si (1256-1263), all Chan monasteries in and around Lin'an?are included on the scrolls themselves, they can be ascribed space-time coordinates that are unusually precise by the standards of Southern Song painting.37 Yanxi himself was part a of culturally dynamic community that included not only several other monk-painters such as LiQue and (discussion to follow) and disciples from Japan overseas and other locales, but also companionship with prominent scholar-officials. One such official, Lin Xiyi (ca. 1200-1273), who authored Yanxi's epitaph and preface to his recorded sayings, was the leading commentator on the Zhuangzi of his day and annotated the seminal texts of philosophical Daoism by citing poetic equivalents for every line.38 The example of Yanxi, however, also suggests that apparition painting may ultimately be linked as closely to places as to people. All of the scrolls associated with were Yanxi inscribed during his residencies at the major Chan monasteries of Lin'an. These monasteries were among the "Five Mountains," leading administrative

36. A sense career can of Yanxi's and range of writings be gleaned from The Recorded Sayings of the Chan Master Yanxi Guangwen (Yanxi 2 Guangwen Chanshi yulu), juan, in Shinsan Dai Nihon zokuzokyo, ed. Kawamura Kosho (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 1986), vol. 69, pp. 726-754. a ' 37. Apparition paintings make up sizable proportion of dated see HV; Song paintings. For reference, Max Loehr, "Chinese Paintings with Sung Dated Inscriptions," Ars Orientalis A (1961 ):219-284. Figure 5. Zhiweng Ruojing (act.mid-thirteenth century), Budai, 38. Yanxi's religious activities are documented in his recorded ca. on x 1256-1263. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 91.8 28.8 cm. sayings, Yanxi Guangwen Chanshi yulu (see note 36). His friendship PrivateCollection, Lin Tokyo. with Xiyi, who authored his tomb epitaph, is especially suggestive. are a Lin, whose dates unknown but who received jinshi degree in 1235, authored numerous writings that demonstrate an interest in as integrating proto-Daoist philosophical texts, such the Zhuangzi and Laozi with Chan philosophy. One of his most remarkable texts, survived are primarily linkedwith a small group of Chan Oral Significance of the Zhuangzi (C: Zhuangzi kouyi), dating to abbots the thirteenth century. during Although Zhiweng's 1261, consisted of annotation to the Zhuangzi in the form of poetic is his two works are both inscribed verse profile elusive, signed drawn from classical poems of the Tang and Song periods. Its was by Yanxi Guangweng (1189-1263) who also leftverse purpose apparently to provide clear, compact interpretations of on the classic that could be in the oral of civil service eulogies some eight other extant works.35 This corpus employed portion examinations. Lin's range of acquaintances included several other prominent Chan monks of the period and suggests a rich intellectual more on context 35. There is also evidence of many inscriptions works forChan painting eulogies that has yet to be explored. For a are now see whose whereabouts unknown. See the list compiled in Itakura wide-ranging introduction to his writings, Araki Kengo, "Rin Kiitsu no (ibid.), p. 19. tachiba," Kyushu daigaku Chugoku tetsugaku ronshu 7 (1981 ):48-61.

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temples through which the Southern Song imperium resident monks included many of the most influential as a governed the Chan monastic community whole. Chan practitioners of the Song.41 Not only did Zhirong Established during the reign of Ningzong (1194-1224) himself undertake his initialChan training there, but under the guidance of the Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan Beijian Jujian,who played an important role in curating (1164-1233), the Five Mountain monasteries consisted the memory of the earlier monk's inkwork, later assumed on of 1)Wanshou si the outskirts of Lin'an, 2) Jinci si and itsabbacy.42 Beijian was well positioned to fill this role; on 3) Lingyin si the bank ofWest Lake, and 4) Tiantong he was the leading Chan commentator of his time on si and 5) Ayuwang si near Siming.39 These campuses the brush arts and appears to have closely studied the were the beneficiaries of lavish imperial support, and writings of Lou Yue.43 were their abbots chosen by the imperial bureaucracy Another space for the transmission of Zhirong's was and regularly rotated throughout the monastic circuit. practice Wanshou si,which was institutionally Yanxi himself was thus appointed and circulated. Lingyin preeminent among Five Mountains monasteries. Located si,where Yanxi resided as abbot during the mid 1250s, approximately seventy kilometers west of Lin'an near was particularly important to the history of apparition theTianmu mountain range,Wanshou si, also referred painting. Situated on the slopes ofWulin Mountain on to simply as Jingshan or "Mt. Jing,"was founded in the shores ofWest Lake, itwas founded in the fourth the eighth century but achieved centripetal status with century and became a leading Chan institution during the residency of the influential monk the Song. Lingyin si was especially famous for itsclose (1089-1163) in 1137, when itsmonastic community proximity to the mountain's renowned peak, Feilai feng, allegedly grew from 300 to around 1,700 monks.44 Its and the neighboring ShangTianzhu si or Upper Tianzhu institutional lifepeaked under the headship ofWuzhun as an Monastery, one of the two leading sites forGuanyin Shifan, who served abbot for extraordinary worship inChina, as well as for the many legends seventeen years (1232-1249).45 Like Yanxi and Beijian, about its "monkey disciples/'40 Its lineage of abbots and no. Hangzhou," ArtibusAsiae 67, 2 (2007):243-291. The sculptural are 39. The establishment of the Five Mountains system during the reliefs of the Feilai feng site examined in Richard Edwards, "Pu-tai no a to Ars thirteenth century is examined in Ishii Shudo, "Chugoku Gozan Maitreya and Reintroduction Hanzhou's Fei-lai-feng," orientalis jissatsu seido no kisoteki kenkyu/' parts 1 through 4, Komazawa 14(1984):5-50. 14 41. Of note in this isDachuan daigaku bukkydgakubu ronshuU (1982):89-132; (1983):82-122; special regard Puji (11 79-1253), a 15 (1984):61-129; and 16 (1985):30-82; and Nishio Kenryu, Chusei the thirty-seventh abbot of Lingyin si. Dachuan authored highly text titled of the Five no Nitchu kuryu toZenshu (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1999), pp. influential Original Assembly Lamps (Wudeng of famous 157-184. For a recent authoritative study of the vagaries of the Five huiyuan; 1253), which compiled the biographies layman see of a kind of secular of earlier Mountains institution during the Yuan period, Noguchi Yoshitaka, practitioners Chan Buddhism, equivalent Dachuan also recorded a on a work Gendai Zenshushi kenkyu (Kyoto: Zen Bunka Kenkyujo, 2005), pp. transmission records. eulogy by 261-283. For the establishment of a similar Five Mountains system in the Academy painter Liang Kai (discussion to follow) that represents one the most sources on the For and Kyoto, see Martin Collcutt, Five Mountains: The Rinzai of important biographical painter. on see Zen Monastic Institution inMedieval Japan (Cambridge: Council further discussion, Ryokai, ed. Bijutsu Kenkyujo (Tokyo: Bijutsu , Harvard University, 1981). Kenkyujo, 1957). 42. was one of a coterie of monks active in the who 40. For an extended discussion of Lingyin si, seeT. Griffith Foulk, Beijian capital in in hailed from the farwestern of which was characterized "Myth, Ritual, and Monastic Practice Sung Ch'an Buddhism," province Shu, ed. Patricia a diverse culture and itsown rich tradition in the brush and Society inTang and Sung China, Buckley by religious of Hawai'i arts. For a discussion of the of Shu to Southern Chan Ebrey and Peter N. Gregory (Honolulu: University Press, importance Song see Dotsu "Hokkan no bunkateki (note 17). 1993), pp. 147-219. From the eleventh century onward, both local culture, Ayano, Kyokan soji" a interest in the 43. For to Lou see Dotsu, "'Hokkanshu' Hangzhou elites and national officials took special Beijian's relationship Yue, as in ni mirareru RoYaku" (see note 10). One of abbacy appointments of Lingyin si, discussed Chi-chiang Huang, good example Beijian's in Buddhism in literati is the official Dedai (dates unknown). Both "Elite and inNorthern Sung Hang-chou," companionship Qian A. Collected and Collected the Sung, ed. Peter N. Gregory and Daniel Getz, Jr. (Honolulu: Beijian's Writings {Beijian wenji) Beijian's 317-320. Poems record a number of of or works owned University of Hawai'i Press, 1999), pp. 295-339, esp. pp. {Beijian shiji) portraits that are inscribed See the discussion inDotsu, The hero of the novel Journey to theWest {Xiyou ji), Sun , by Qian by Beijian. "Hokkan 243-244. is said to have been imagined according to the monkey lore of Lingyin Kyokan" (ibid.), pp. 44. name of the underwent several si. For a detailed discussion, see Meir Shahar, "The Lingyin Si Monkey The official monastery Harvard of Asiatic the but settled on Disciples and the Origins of Sun Wukong," Journal changes during Song period eventually Xingsheng was the Studies 52, no. 1 (June 1992):193-224. Wanshouchan si. It founded by the monk Fa Qin during in Tianbao era Lingyin si was sometimes paired the cultural and religious (742-756). For a of 45. For more on the and of the Chan Five imaginary with ShangTianzhu si monastery. discussion origin development see Susan Mountains see Gendai Zenshushi ShangTianzhu si and worship, Shih-Shan Huang, system, Noguchi Yoshitaka, kenkyu a in Zen Bunka 261-283. "Tianzhu Lingqian: Divination Prints from Song (Kyoto: Kenkyujo, 2005), pp.

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Wuzhun was imperially recognized and well connected dharma lineages in Japanese monastic centers. By with officialdom; but his institutional stature is reflected contrast, the abbot Yuansou Xingtan, despite his many in the prodigious number of monks that claimed descent decades of residency atWanshousi, the premier Chinese from his dharma lineage.46 It is likely thatmany Chan Chan institution, could not claim a single dharma heir in pictorial practices were transmitted to Japan under the Japan.48 Because Yuansou's colophon, discussed earlier, auspices ofWuzhun's presence atWanshou si, including is the last recorded account of apparition painting, it and especially apparition painting. could be that thismode was still current within, but The association of apparition painting with specific confined to,Mt. Jingand other Chan communities sites may explain why surviving works tend to be of the capital region. At the same time, however, the confined to the thirteenth century and associated with complete lack of any mention of Zhirong's name or specific religious masters at the leading Lin'an Chan lineage from this time forward, along with the stylistic a monasteries. The fourteenth century witnessed general driftof surviving works, suggests otherwise. Chan figure shift in the major centers of Chan learning towhich painting of the fourteenth century demonstrates that the In contrast to Japanese pilgrim-monks congregated. practices of monk-painters were undergoing continual the Southern Song, during which the Five Mountains transformation during the Yuan period. The demise of overseas monasteries of Lin'an and Siming teemed with apparition painting may ultimately be attributable to the the Yuan saw new acolytes, period the emergence of emergence of paradigms for the pictorial expression more remote overseen Chan communities by highly of awakenedness. This phenomenon is better understood a charismatic monks whose independence from imperial through more thorough accounting of thirteenth was a oversight key component of their appeal. The century modes of Chan figure painting. most famous such figureswere and Gulin (1263-1323) Qingmao (1262-1329).47 Apparition painting has been ambiguously situated Dozens of ensured the continuation disciples of their within the larger history of monochrome ink figure painting in Song-period China. At one point or another practically all such painting has been labeled 46. was one more Muqi, the famous monk-painter, of them. Two apparitional. This over-generous use of the term, Wu'an Punin (d. 1276) and Wuxue (1226-1286), disciples, Zuyuan however, ignores important differences of artistic were invited to where took abbacies at Kamakura Japan, they up major them. the to mid Zen monasteries and oversaw a figuration among During early crucial moment in the Zenning of the thirteenth even within Chan contexts?for archipelago. Among Japanese pilgrim monks who sought out Wuzhun's century, Enni that even supervision, Ben'en (1202-1280), the founder of Tofukuji matter, within the circles of the same Chan in is the most monastery Kyoto, celebrated, although many others abbots?at least three other types of monochrome could be named. For more on dharma see Sino-Japanese lineages, ink were in circulation.49 The first, Tamamura "Nihon Zenso no tokai kankei o sum figure painting Takeji, sangaku hyoji "untrammeled" is shuha type characterized methodical zu," inNihon zenshushi ronshu ge no ni (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, by , more brushwork for the face and 1981) pp. 151-172, and recently Sato Hidetaka, "Zensha no exposed body parts, Nitchu koryu?Sodai Zenshu to Nihon Zenrin," in Sodai Zenrin no contrasted with rough brushwork for the clothing. A shakaiteki Sankibo On networks of eikyo (Tokyo: Busshorin, 2002). number of early thirteenth-centuryworks in Japanese Wuzhun in see disciples particular, Suyama Nagahiro, "Somatsu in such as collections, The Monk Fenggan (fig. 6), okeru Zenso tachi no Shiban no deshi tachi," koryu?Bujun Shugaku demonstrate this division of labor between flesh and kenkyu 44 (March 2002):229-234, and Sato Hidetaka, "Shuichi-ha no ni tsuite?Enni no cloth.50 Its black brushwork a nisso, nyugenso Tofukuji sodan to Sogen no zenshu," broad, scratchy, generates no. 2 sense of movement Indogaku bukkyogaku kenkyu 53, (March 2005):592-597. and agitation that highlights the calm 47. has attracted a Zhongfeng sizable literature, most recently summarized inNoguchi, Gendai Zenshushi (see note 45), pp. 89-168. Ide Seinosuke discusses Zhongfeng's cultural activity and association with monks in "Chuho o Japanese Minpon jisanzo megutte," Bijutsu 48. Several Japanese monks are known to have met with Yuansou, 343 (1989):99-116. See also kenkyu Chun-fang Yu, "Chung-feng including Jakushitsu Genko (1290-1367), Kao Sonen (d. 1345), Suzan Ming-pen and Ch'an Buddhism in the Yuan," in Yuan Chinese and Sesson Yubai Thought: Kyochu (1277-1345), (1290-1346), but these figures and Under the ed. Hok-lam Chan and Wm. consulted Thought Religion Mongols, many other religious masters as well. For an extended Theodore de (New York: American Council of Learned discussion see Bary Societies, Noguchi, Cendai Zenshushi (see note 45), pp. 79-80. 1982) , pp. 419-477. By contrast, Gulin has been understudied, even 49. The section is to following indebted Toda Teisuke, "Sogen Zenso though he was as a in the no to shite arguably just significant presence religious gaka kaiga?shu Zenyo kaigafu ni tsuite?," inGeijutsu, vol. an landscape of his time. For introduction, see Tamamura "Kurin 7 of bunka ed. Machida Takeji, Chugoku sosho, Koichi and Suzuki Kei (Tokyo: Seimu kanko no Nihon zenshushi ronshu ju Honeiji goroku shuhen," Daishukan Shoten, 1971), pp. 125-138. no ge ichi (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 1981), 299-318. 50. See Itakura Masaaki's in pp. entry Nanso kaiga (see note 8), p. 158.

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and sense of purpose of the subject. Many commentators * associate this pictorial mode with a tradition of kit* H h 4 spontaneous and (untrammeled, or yipin) vigorous _.? depiction dating back to the Tang period (618-907).51 A second type sometimes grouped with apparition painting is the agitated figure style of the Imperial Academy painter Liang Kai (active in the early thirteenth century). His oeuvre is difficult to assess because of itsdizzying technical and stylistic range, which spans both the sophisticated descriptive modes of the Song Painting Academy and the abbreviated monochrome modes prevalent in the Chan community. In later biographies, this bipolar oeuvre was explained according to a spurious anecdote that Liang Kai, upon receiving the prestigious Golden Girdle from the emperor, hung his prize up on the Academy walls and leftto join a Buddhist monastery.52 The Sixth Patriarch Chopping Bamboo (fig. 7), in the , offers one of his "abbreviated brush" method example (jianbi). \"% y The Sixth Patriarch pictorializes a legendary anecdote about inwhich he achieves at Huineng awakening 4 the sound of his cutting instrument striking the hollow bamboo. Relying more on linear than tonal variation to make itscase, the entire composition bristles with a high-paced, staccato-like congregation of strokes that is also highly abbreviated but nevertheless decidedly unapparitional. Yet a third figural mode prevalent in thirteenth-century Chan circles is closely associated with the monk-painter

51. See Shimada Shujiro, "Ippin gafu ni tsuite/' Bijutsu kenkyu 161 (March 1951):20-46, reprinted inChugoku kaigashi kenkyu (see note 5), pp. 3-44, translated by James Cahill in "Concerning the l-p'in no. Style of Painting," part I inOriental Art 7, 2 (Summer 1961):66-74; part II inOriental Art 8, no. 3 (Autumn 1962):130-37; and part III in Figure 6. Painter unknown, TheMonk Fenggan, early thirteenth Oriental Art 10, no. 1 1964):19-26. A useful discussion is also (Spring ink on 90.5 x 32.0 cm. Private zu century. Hanging scroll, paper, found inToda Teisuke, "Niso choshin saiko," inChugoku kaigashi Collection, Tokyo. ronshu, ed. Suzuki Kei sensei kanreki kinenkai (Tokyo: Yoshikawa was Kobunkan, 1981), pp. 199-216. The yipin tradition originally associated with artists who used unorthodox techniques (smearing with hair and hands, throwing rags) to produce extremely abbreviated on itcame to landscapes. EbineToshio has suggested that later be Muqi. Emerging somewhat later than other modes, closer associated with religious figure painting, and with muralists who to mid this its with an on century, approach depicts subject painted without relying methodical underdrawings, thus practicing unambiguous sense of corporeal volume, in contrast to a more spontaneous and vigorous approach to their craft. See Ebine, the tradition. No work demonstrates its features "Suiboku jinbutsu ga?kyu 6 megutte," inNanso, Kin, vol. 6 of Sekai Zhirong more Eater bijutsu daizenshu, ed. Nakazawa Fujio and Shimada Hidemasa (Tokyo: skillfully than The Shrimp (fig. 8), Muqi's 141-148. Shogakkan, 2000), pp. only dated work to have survived. Muqi's work, which 52. The and evolution of this anecdote is traced in emergence bears the painter's seal in the upper left,captures its Kawakami Kei, "Ryokai Indara josetsu," in Ryokai, Indara, vol. 4 of iconoclastic subject?the monk Xianzi, who was known Suiboku bijutsu taikei, eds. EbineToshio et al (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1973), to flout the Buddhist the and pp. 39-50; and Lin Xiuwei, "Ryokai kenkyu josetsu?'Ri Haku ginko prohibition against hunting no sentient a moment zu' kara Zue hokan Ryokai denki made?," Toyo bunka kenkyujo eating of things?in of feckless glee %o 117(1992):235-272. as he holds his recently ensnared prey up for a face

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Figure 7. Liang Kai, (act. early thirteenthcentury), The Sixth Figure 8. Muqi (act.mid- to late thirteenthcentury), The Shrimp ca. on x PatriarchChopping Bamboo, early thirteenthcentury. Hanging Eater, 1254-1256. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 84.7 ink on 72.7 x 31.5 cm. Museum. 31.4 cm. scroll, paper, Tokyo National Private Collection, Tokyo.

to-face encounter. Although itsvoid background and convincing depiction of figures-in-landscapes, as evident subject matter correspond to the general profile of other inMuqi's Luohan (Seikado LibraryMuseum, Tokyo) and works inscribed by Yanxi, The Shrimp Eater employs a White-Robed Cuanyin (Daitokuji Monastery, Kyoto).53 far greater number of strokes to describe itsprotagonist. Again focusing on the robe of the upper torso, these strokes tend to consist of short, curvilinear lines that 53. These works are usually considered to postdate The Shrimp is recorded as active the era altogether project a corporeal presence underneath. The Eater; Muqi being during Zhiyuan (1264-1294), and The Eater is therefore an work wet, of inkon the skirt that Shrimp likely early planar application suggests the For a discussion of his see Ebine in by monk-painter. biography it is drenched from water. The to no no wading tendency Toshio, "Mokkei shogai," inMokkei?shokei suibokuga (Tokyo: mass lines to a common short, curving, undulating point The Gotoh Museum, 1996), pp. 88-90. For a useful discussion of to depict subjects "in the round" lends itselfwell to the Muqi's stylistic development, see Toda Teisuke, "Mokkei ni okeru

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were a When situated amid these widely divergent surviving works, for the most part they defined by on Li was approaches, the specific qualities of apparition painting focus crisp linearity. Because deeply involved a come into higher relief. In contrast to the drama of inChan Buddhist practice and pictorialized number of untrammeled brushwork, the frenetic linearity of Liang complex sectarian subjects, his works became important matter Kai's patriarchs, and the massing of Muqi's eccentrics, the models for Buddhist subject during the Southern Li Zhirong mode emphasizes above all else the ethereality Song period.56 Indeed, the legacy of Gonglin among the and thirteenth and weightlessness of representation. Background motifs Buddhist monk-painters during twelfth a are eschewed, and brushwork conveys the distinct centuries is a sorely neglected topic. Not only did learn their from impression of wanness and ontological ambiguity. The number of monks directly craft him, or treated his works most significant feature in this regard is the faintness of many others followed his example ink,which contributes to an overall feintness of subject. as iconographic and compositional standards. Sixteen a work in the Freer In particular, apparition painting is unique in its strictly Luohans (fig. 11), mid-twelfth-century the continued of linear use of pale ink to achieve the intended ghostly Gallery of Art, exemplifies application a to matter effect. During this era, tonal gradation at such minimal his "white drawing" Buddhist subject during common the Southern This work isof registerwas more in certain types of landscape early Song period. special or in to because of its painting that, in striving for effects of "blandness" interest relation apparition painting a of audible The silhouettes of its "ink play," were characterized by planar application pale, barely tonality. wiry recall Li ink through tonally expansive washes, best exemplified figures, however, clearly Gonglin's baimiao, to inworks such as Dream Journey on the Xiao and Xiang and thework is tellingly attributed the monk-painter Fan in the twelfth a recorded Rivers (fig.9).54 In the Zhirong mode, by contrast, long (active century), undersaturated lines appear to reflect different priorities disciple of the Northern Song painting master.57 Li and introduce a difficulty into the viewing process that is The kinshipof apparitionpainting and the Gonglin relievedonly by theblack touches inthe eyelids, pupils, manner is uniquely suggested in The Pilgrim Boy a work inscribed nostrils, inner ear, and select accoutrements. Such marks Sudhana (fig. 12), recently rediscovered more more work the most not only render the figure legible, but also by Beijian Jujian.58The depicts Sudhana, famous salvation seeker in Buddhist at convincingly inhabited. youthful lore, the encounter of a to The etiology of this approach to ink figuration penultimate pilgrimage fifty-three as in the Flower Garland Sutra isdifficult to map because of a dearth of surviving wise beings described (S. C. After works. Itcan generally be assumed, however, that , jing).59 experiencing one vectors of the of the apparition painting represents of several glorious surroundings Maitreya's a Sudhana for a final with the development inChan communities of highly refined Palace, prays meeting as Bodhisattva who extends his mode of linear painting, referred to baimiao (literally ManjusrT, miraculously Li hand from the vast distance of "one hundred and ten "white drawing"). Closely associated with Gonglin, was an and to stroke the head.60 The baimiao, Li's signature technique, archaizing yo\anas" boy's Beijian-inscribed color work thismoment of encounter unadorned pictorial mode that typically eschewed depicts just haptic and relied almost exclusively on thin, barely inflected ink lines to convey forms and build up compositions.55 56. Li involvement with Chan Buddhism is discussed in effects were introduced Gonglin's Although modeling occasionally Buddhist Culture An-yi Pan, Li Conglin and Northern Song (Leiden: ink-line such as in The Classic into these compositions, Brill, 2007). most see Chinese of Filial Piety (fig. 10), one of Li's representative 57. For more on this work, Thomas Lawton, Figure Freer of Painting (Washington, D.C: The Gallery Art, 1973), pp. 98-101. 58. This work is introduced in Itakura Masa'aki, "Hokkan" (see note 117 So to Gen?Roshi zu o megutte?" Toyo bunka kenkyujo kiyo 17). on of the Sudhana (1992):215-234. 59. For more artistic representations pilgrimage, of Sudhana: A of 54. This work, which dates to the late twelfth century, is the subject see Jan Fontein, The Pilgrimage study The in and and Paris: Mouton & of Valerie Malenfer Ortiz, Dreaming the Southern Song Landscape: illustrations China, Japan Java (The Hague A useful of Sudhana-related art in the context of The Power of Illusion in Chinese Painting (Leiden: Brill, 1999). Co., 1967). survey Sutra is Ishida vol. 55. There is an extensive literature on Li Gonglin in English. See Flower Garland iconography Hisatoyo, Kegonkyo-e, Li Classic of Filial ed. Richard Barnhart 270 ofNihon no Shibundo, 1988). especially Kung-lin's Piety bijutsu (Tokyo: and Robert E. 60. Itwas who first instructed Sudhana to embark on his (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993); Harrist, ManjusrT in China: Mountain Villa After the bodhisattva's hand, Sudhana then Jr.,fainting and Private Life Eleventh-Century pilgrimage. encountering Princeton 1998). to his final destination, the residence of . by Li Conglin (Princeton: University Press, proceeds

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Figure 9. Master Li of Shucheng (act. late twelfthcentury), Dream Journeyon ca. on the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, 1170, detail. Handscroll, ink paper, 30.3 x cm. 400.4 Tokyo National Museum.

Figure 10. LiGonglin (1049-1106), The Classic of Filial Piety detail, lateeleventh century.Handscroll, inkon , 21.9 x 475.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Figure 11. Attributed to Fanlong (act. ca. twelfthcentury), Sixteen Luohans, detail, mid-twelfth century.Handscroll, inkon paper, 30.5 x 106.3 cm. The FreerGallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Purchase, F1960.1 detail.

(fig. 13). Sudhana, facing to the leftwith his hands known to have painted this same subject within the pressed together in prayer, has turned around rightas larger context of Sudhana's complete pilgrimage circuit, Manjusn's hand reaches out to him. The iconography of and his renditions were considered exemplary during the the moment calls for the remainder of the bodhisattva's Southern Song period. Beijian himself left inscriptions body to remain invisible, rendering the miracle all the on several of Li's treatments of the theme, raising the more pictorially dramatic. The silvery, chimeric tones of possibility that The Pilgrim Boy Sudhana was modeled ink and extraordinary faintness of the floating hand? on a work by the scholar-painter.63 The Pilgrim Boy which has led at least one commentator to speculate Sudhana thus points to the indebtedness of Chan monk that the 's body was possibly cut out from the painters to the baimiao approach to figure painting, and scroll?suggest a thematic of (in)visibility proximate to may mark a middle ground between the brush habits that of apparition painting, a mode with which Beijian associated with both Li Gonglin and Zhirong. was as intimate as any member of the Chan clergy.61 But the rendering of Sudhana's costume is carried out As argued, the relationship between apparition in a languid, stylized variation of Li Gonglin's ink-line painting and scholar painting in the Southern Song method, far removed from the sartorial abbreviation period ismore proximate than realized. A larger characteristic of Zhirong and his followers.62 Li was context for this interrelationship has been established by recent scholarship on Song-period Chan Buddhism, which ismapping out with ever greater precision the close kinship of Chan communities to officialdom in 61. See the brief entry on this painting in James Cahill, An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: Tang, Sung, and Yuan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), p. 226. 62. The mannered fluttering of the figure's scarf ends, caught a 63. The of Li to the of Sudhana in gust of cosmic wind, recall the "fluttering orchid leaf" strokes importance Gonglin iconography was raised inUmezu Zenzai emaki associated with the twelfth-century Academy painter Hezhi, an Jiro, "Todaiji-bon doji shiko," Yamato bunka 29 in Umezu Emaki mono observation made by Itakura in "Hokkan" (see note 17), p. 19. For (1958): 11-26, reprinted Jiro, soko Chuokoron 62-79. more on Ma Hezhi's linear habits, see Julia K. Murray, Ma Hezhi and (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppan), pp. Beijian's on Li's works are listed in "Hokkan" note the Illustration of the Book of Odes (London: Cambridge University inscriptions Itakura, (see 17), Press, 1993). p. 20, note 18.

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Figure 13. 77?ePilgrim Boy Sudhana, detail of figure 12.

imperial patronage, monastic land grants, and abbacy appointments. Unsurprisingly, they took on numerous lay patrons from this demography and often entered into close camaraderie with itsmembers. Scholar-officials prized such relationships for the spiritual tutelage and prestigious associations they offered. Accordingly, throughout the Song period Chan monks not only a adopted but also took leading role in refining norms of gentlemanly companionship based upon the exchange of poetry and the brush arts. More than a few became as renowned prominent painters and calligraphers themselves, and Chan monks played a crucial role in developing certain painting subjects thatwould lateron be closely associated with the literatipainting canon, Figure 12. Painter unknown, The Pilgrim Boy Sudhana, early most (d. 1123) invention tomid-thirteenth century. Hanging scroll, inkon paper, 89.8 x famously Huaguang Zhongren's 29.4 cm. of the ink (C. momei) Private Collection, Hyogo Prefecture. plum genre.65

in context see pantheon the of this rise, Yukio Lippit, "Awakenings: The both personal and institutional terms.64Chan monks Development of the Zen Figural Pantheon," inAwakenings: Zen Figure inMedieval ed. Levine and Yukio relied upon the support of scholar-bureaucrats for Painting Japan, Gregory Lippit (New York: Japan Society, 2007), pp. 34-51. a see 65. For full discussion, Maggie Bickford, Ink Plum: The 64. Numerous works could be cited with a classic a here, beginning Making of Chinese Scholar-Painting Genre (Cambridge: Cambridge article byT. Griffith Foulk, "Myth, Ritual, and Monastic Practice in Sung University Press, 1996), pp. 115-130. Prominent painters and Ch'an in in Buddhism," Religion and Society Tang and Sung China, calligraphers from the Chan corps during the Song period are discussed ed. Patricia and Peter N. in Buckley Ebrey Gregory (Honolulu: University Hasegawa Masahiro, "Sodai ni okeru geijutsuso ni tsuite," Indogaku of Hawai'i 147-208. A recent that summarizes no. 1 Press, 1993), pp. study bukkyogaku kenkyu 47, (Dec 1998):19-23. Along with well trends in the institutional rise of Chan the tenth and as larger during known culturally active monks such Juefan Huihong (1071-1128), eleventh centuries is some Albert Welter, Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Hasegawa identifies eleven monk-calligraphers and thirteen Political of Chan are Ascendancy Buddhism (New York: Oxford University monk-painters whose profiles recorded only in specialized histories a Press, 2006). For discussion of the formation of the Chan figure of the Song and Yuan periods.

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The artistryof Chan monks, however, was more than Chinese Chan, and the "scattered saints" (sansheng) or a as an expression of erudition refinedmode of epistolary such Budai, Xianzi the Shrimp Eater, and was exchange. Itwas also reflective of a larger ideological and , whose deviant behavior understood to of agenda driven by the need of Chan institutions to be the exception that proved the rule Chan's sects of more mainstream distinguish themselves from other Buddhist vying special transmission.68 Subjects were in for attention. Chan promoted the idea that itsmembers Buddhist iconography also pictorialized with a wrinkle that represented a unique and unbroken transmission of Chan communities, but oftentimes the Dharma, or Buddha's wisdom, throughout the highlighted the special status of Chan commentary. as most its ages. This "special transmission" was presented The prominent example of oblique approach Descent intuitive?that is to say, not acquired through scriptural to Buddhas and is "Sakyamuni's a that transforms a study, as with other Buddhist communities, but "mind from theMountain," painting subject in the Historical Buddha's life to mind," through meditation and other somatic minor, transitional episode a into one itsmost practices, or private instructionwith religious master. of epiphanic. was no means The Chan assertion of a special transmission, however, Figure painting by the only genre was in of Chan Other was a construct of the Song period, one that practiced the circles abbots. subjects to Chan as directed at both members of the and the official that lent themselves readily allegory?such also and monk bureaucracy.66 Itdeveloped into a powerful rhetoric oxen, Zhirong's specialty?were popular, into the of that suffused the prolific literature generated by monks painters often forayed iconography scholarly inkbamboo and with a during the Song period and beyond. The antitextualism virtue, painting plum mastery to of their nonsurvival. and iconoclasm of Chan monks was highlighted in the that isdifficult appreciate because But itwas thatmost advanced "lamp histories," official genealogies of the Chan special figure painting directly once and transmission thatwere presented approximately the idea of the special transmission, apparition Itwas one distilled method of every generation to the Song imperial court. also painting represented particularly the of the Chan promulgated in sermons, eulogies, and gong'an (J.) conveying sanctity pantheon. Apparition as somehow or "case studies," inscrutable exchanges between historic painting has often been regarded uniquely and but its be better assessed within figures that presented riddles of language logic Zen, qualities may such an the context of scholar-official and for spiritual cultivation. Transmission became larger expectations one commentator aesthetics. Those features of now so important theme that ithas prompted apparition painting as associated with Chan and intuition? to refer to Chan religious practice "fundamentally closely spontaneity extent towhich the abbreviation of brushwork and the genealogical."67 While the day-to-day hallucinatory of ink black accents?can Chan monastic activity actually deviated from that of paleness tone, punctuated by well understood as out of scholar other Buddhist sects requires further scrutiny, the rhetoric be equally growing a crucial role in official habits of and as intended of a special transmission clearly played painterly expression to recruit the of this same audience. The Chan's rise to institutional preeminence during the Song. sympathies of Li baimiao mode Southern Chan figure painting effectively enabled the reception Gonglin's among Chan monks has been and the communal imagination of the Chan transmission Song already observed, most and use of inkwas as by pictorializing its auratic pictogenic sparing already being championed an characteristic of scholar's in the members. Itsdramatis personae consisted of (mostly integral painting eleventh Moreover, himself, as a doctor legendary) exemplars of Chan awakening, including century. Zhirong to a similar to that of theBodhidharma (fig. 4) and the firstsix patriarchs of with entree the court, bore profile the scholar-official for the majority of his life. to The close kinship of Zhirong's mode scholar Poet Li Bai a painting is suggested by The (fig. 14), had been in circulation well before the 66. Brief Chan lineages work Kai in the National Museum. in texts such as Record of the Transmission of the Darma by Liang Tokyo Song period versifier Li Bai Dharma in Here the famous (701-762) Jewel {Chuan Fabao ji) and Record of the Jewel Every Age Tang-period {LidaiFabao ji), butonly began tobe fullyelaborated intotransmission records connected to contemporary practitioners with The Patriarchs of Hall Anthology{Zutang ji, compiled 952) and the lamphistories the as of Welter 59-114. 68. I have discussed the latter figures essentially objects Song period. See (note 64), pp. local cult that were into the Chan pantheon in 67. John R. McRae, Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, worship appropriated a of order to render itmore and more convincing to broader and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism (Berkeley: University appealing See (note 64), pp. 39-43. California Press, 2003), p. xi. constituency. Lippit, "Awakenings"

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a isdepicted in differentmanifestation of Liang Kai's abbreviated brush mode. The high-minded poet is captured inmonochrome ink against a void background. Apparently walking outdoors and looking upward, possibly at the moon, while appearing to recite a poem, Li Bai could easily pass for a Chan exemplar drawn a up by follower of Zhirong. The begrudging use of ink evident in the robes, the dark tones reserved for facial features, hair, and shoes, and the overall economy of brushstrokes share much in common with apparition painting.69 Budai (fig. 15), a surviving work by the monk LiQue, pays further testimony to this close relationship. Inscribed during the mid 1250s by Yanxi Guangweng and thus emerging from the same environment as works by Zhiweng and other previously mentioned monk painters, Budai demonstrates apparitional handiwork. Itsauthor, however, was a disciple of Liang Kai, and his use parsimonious of ink cannot be attributed entirely to a Chan milieu or disposition. Apparition painting's kinship to scholar painting offers a differentway of accounting for itsabbreviation of brushwork, because this quality directly reflected naturalness and amateurity, both highly appreciated in literatiaesthetics. Although the unpolished nature of Chan-related figure painting is taken as a matter of i course, apparition painting appears to rely largely on deskilling, the purposeful undercrafting that strained to K achieve whatever the opposite of professionalism looked like in the monochrome inkmedium. And the same observation holds for the restrained, undernourished tonality of its figures, reflective of a continuous effort to achieve ever-whiter shades of pale.

Chan's pantheon of awakened exemplars, then, provided colorful pretexts for demonstrations of dharma Figure 14. Liang Kai (act. early thirteenthcentury), The Poet Li possession. Such acts were the unofficial mandate of Bai, early thirteenthcentury. scroll, inkon paper, 81.1 the Chan who communicated his Hanging master, incessantly x cm. 30.5 Tokyo National Museum.

a 69. However, major difference in Liang Kai's work, aside from its subject matter, lies in the treatment of the body. Careful examination shows that the is in such a as to mass poet crafted way convey his embodiment of Chan essence?otherwise ineffable and a sense of movement His backside is convincing through space. and an a undefinable?to array of constituencies and depicted by cluster of overlapping lines that hint of spatial depth, and onlookers. Most often thiswas done the single brushstroke forming his front side is blurred on itsoutward by invoking, an facing edge, effect that, as several commentators have observed, through word and deed, the unorthodoxy and a bathed in See implies figure moonlight. Lin, "Ryokai kenkyu" (note iconoclasm fundamental to the Chan rhetoric of separate 52), pp. 236-247. The painting is also discussed in Kumatani Nobuo, transmission. In this regard, literarygenres unique to hitsu Ri Haku zu," 161 (March 1951):47 "Ryokai ginko Bijutsu kenkyu Chan Buddhism such as the transmission records or 49; Hasumi Shigeyasu, "Ryokai hitsu 'Ri Haku ginko zu' no Pasupa to histories" and recorded moji 'Daishito-in' Anika ni tsuite," Tohogaku 35 (1966):83-97; and "lamp (denglu) sayings, provided "Ri Haku in no vol. 1 of thousands of of Chan Kunigo Hideaki, ginko zu," Suibokuga seiritsu, examples monks performing their Nihon meihin zufu suibokuga (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbun, 1993). awakened status in bizarre and inscrutable ways. As

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and, most pertinent here, the inscription of paintings. As the Song period progressed, the manner inwhich Chan monks demonstrated their awakened credentials tended to gravitate towards commentary on thewords and deeds of earlier of Chan s*S^ <^s. > x f*Buddhahood.72 Of

71. The rise of painting inscriptions inChan practice parallels as a the rise of painting inscriptions in general distinctive literary category (tihua shiwen) during the Song period. As Aoki Masaru has a demonstrated, although painting inscriptions inChina have long history that extends back to theWarring States period (475-221 as a b.c.e.), they only began to be compiled separate category of literary production during the late eleventh century. See Aoki, "Daiga no no. bungaku hatten," Shinagaku 9, 1 (1937):1 -24. A survey of monks' inscriptions during the Southern Song shows a steady increase. a see For discussion of painting inscriptions for and by Chan monks, Hasegawa Masahiro, "Daibatsu yori mitaru Sodai Zen," Indogaku no. bukkyogaku kenkyu 44, 2 (March 1996):128-136, and Dotsu no Ayano, "Nansodai Rinzaiso ni yoru kaiga kaishaku ni tsuite," Zen ca. Figure 15. LiQue (act.mid-thirteenth century), Budai, bunka kenkyujo kiyo 23 (June 1997):203-221. use 1254-1256. Hanging scroll, part of a triptych,ink on paper, 72. In this regard, the importance of the of vernacular Chinese inChan and Chan literature in cannot be 104.8 x 32.1 cm. Myoshinji Monastery, Kyoto. inscriptions general underestimated. The consistent deployment of colloquial Chinese in Chan transmission records, koan dialogues, verses, and inscriptions as a more not only distinguished Chan colorful and charismatic regime more of language, but also conveyed legitimacy to the voices of same Albert Welter notes, this literature,which proliferated contemporary monks, allowing them to speak with the functional as a as earlier and even himself. The use during the Song period, cast the Chan master authority patriarchs, Sakyamuni of the vernacular led to the direct mode of address common to the a Daoist sage whose wisdom "latter-day Zhuangzi," of Yanxi and his and was even was characterized nonsensical inscriptions contemporaries, adopted by impish skepticism, by Confucian scholars during the Song. For extended discussion, see and touches of but illustrative counter-querying, startling Daniel Gardner, "Modes of Thinking and Modes of Discourse in the on anecdote.70 This model of the irascible, probing wise Song: Some Thoughts the Yulu ('Recorded Conversations') Texts," of Asian Studies no. 3 and Robert man came to be performed continuously by Chan monks Journal 50, (1991 ):574-603, Hymes, "Getting theWords Right: Speech, Vernacular Language, and Classical through lectures, sermons, personal interaction with Language in Song Neo-Confucian 'Records ofWords'," Journal of and patrons, versification, disciples lay public outings, Song-Yuan Studies 36 (2006):25-56. Among Japanese scholars, career IriyaYoshitaka (1910-1998) spent much of his exploring the 70. See Welter (note 214. a 64), p. colloquialisms of early Chan texts. For representative sampling of his

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all of the different pictorial dispositions available to evocation than this one the penumbral quality of the was Chan figure painting, the Zhirong mode perhaps pictorial mode associated with Zhirong. the most effective in framing the soliloquies of its Yanxi's seven-character quatrain inscribed above signatories. Itsgossamer tones and airy bearings frames its subject's incandescence: formed visual quandaries that enabled a special kind of In the bustling city,act as you will Channish rumination, and were of inherently suggestive But speak not of dreams in frontof the foolish for further revelation. possibilities You turnyour head, but does anyone know whom you really Budai (fig. 16), yet another work bearing the ink are? traces of Yanxi his at on as as a Guangwen during abbacy Wanshou The pole your shoulder is heavy mountain.74 si (1256-1263), highlights the suitability of apparition Here Yanxi addresses the now directly legendary itinerant, painting forChan demagoguery.73 The scroll, in the and his firsttwo lines invoke standard components of Fukuoka City Museum, portrays the familiar mendicant Budai's that described him as with his body facingrightward but apparentlystopped biography wandering the towns and villages of the Jiangnan region, playing in its tracks, and his head turning to look backward, to with children, out in and the viewer's left.His staff is raised in his leftarm, and bursting laughter, muttering incomprehensibly. Budai's open mouth suggests that the tail end of the ever-present sack, the rest of which he is at a moment of in such ishidden by his rotundbody, blows lightlyin the wind captured engagement nonsensical banter, while speaking of "dreams in front along with his robe. The compositional dynamic of two of the foolish." The firsthalf of the verse thus establishes counterbalancing forces, one the astral wind that blows the protagonist as an eccentric who transcends norms rightward in the direction of Budai's perambulation, of social behavior. This prepares the final two lines and the other the dead weight of the protagonist's body to serve as a demonstration of Yanxi's that this and his own deliberate look backward, imbue the insight a tomfoolery is manifestation of enlightenment. Noting figurewith visual interest, heightened by a particularly even his burlesque face, Yanxi asks rhetorically ifthere is dramatic tonal range, when judged by the anyone of sufficient spiritual acumen to recognize this attenuated standards of apparition painting. A wide array jester. Here the inscription appears attuned to the of platinum lines and tones sets the Fukuoka version closely by the turned head, itcalls attention apart as one of the most masterful renditions of a Chan painting; observing to Budai's contrapposto and the full view of his face it exemplar. Three or four sweeping pewter-colored strokes affords the onlooker. Yanxi's querying of Budai's true render thewind-swept robes in a abstract particularly was manner. identity is disingenuous, for it commonly believed Highly inflected, these strokes contrast with that the exemplar was a manifestation of the Buddha both the fine, tensile lines of the torso and the light, Maitreya, a fact that clinched Budai's and stylized strokes of the sack end, which flutters ribbon sanctity made him thatmuch more appealing to associate with like in the air. The dark inkof thewalking stick relieves Chan's special transmission.75 Yanxi's inscriptions on the otherwise unrelenting ashenness of Budai, along other Budai listed in his recorded are with thedabs of deeplydark pigment applied to the paintings, sayings, more explicit about the between the Chan pupils, nostrils, and teeth. Damage around the face relationship exemplar and Maitreya.76 With regard to the Fukuoka obscures these details and the fact that Budai laughs City Museum painting, however, while the inscription leerily,perhaps addressing someone out of view (fig. 17). Further erosion of the paper surface beneath the robes obscures the eccentric's feet in equally wispy ink lines, the foot outward at a 74. an right facing ninety-degree angle This translation modifies earlier English version rendered Wu in from the leftto further indicate Budai's turn backward by Xiaojin Awakenings, ed. Levine and Lippit (see note 64), p. 94. I have consulted Yoshitaka's of (fig. 18). Overall, the painting conveys the impression Iriya interpretation colloquial usage in "Ko Chokufu Hotei shusei of an of a visual trace or of a zu/' Gyobutsu Higashiyama gyobutsu afterglow, memory figure Tankosha, 1972), 82. was (Kyoto: p. that once there. Few with 75. images capture greater Concerning the various meanings associated with Budai/Hotei, see Onishi Kaoru, "Hotei zu ko?Kano Masanobu hitsu 'Ganka Hotei zu' shuhen ge," Shukyo bijutsu kenkyu 7 (2000): 65-98. on this see to no Zen to 76. Two other writings subject, Kyudd etsuraku?Chugoku painting inscriptions are found in his yulu. One, Iwanami Shoten, 1983). inscribed for the monk shi?(Tokyo: Miaofeng, refers to the moment and spectacle 73. See Itakura "Enkei Komon san 'Hotei zu'?Nanso of Masa'aki, Maitreya's descent, while the other, whose recipient is unknown, no ichizenso no shuhen ni okeru sennen invokes inTusita Heaven. See jidai sakuga?," Toyo bijutsu Maitreya's palace The Recorded Sayings no kiseki (Nara: Yamato 124-129. Bunkakan, 1997), pp. of the Chan Master Yanxi Guangwen (note 36), pp. 748b and 750a.

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1 Figure 17. Budai (see fig. 16), detail. l v \

l . :, . Figure 16. Attributed to Hu Zhifu (act. thirteenthcentury), ca. on x Budai, 1256-1263. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 70.7 cm. 29.3 Fukuoka City Museum.

is indirect, its third line presents itsauthor as the bearer of privileged knowledge, as one who recognizes the true identityof Budai and by extension penetrates appearances to an understanding of the essence of things. Yanxi's own demonstration of this in the final line is cryptic, stating simply "the pole on your shoulder is as heavy as a mountain." To be sure, such a passage reflects the thespian dimension of Chan inscriptive practice, the assumption of the voice of thewise man. At the same time, however, it refers to theweight of the mundane Figure 18. ?uc/a/ (see fig. 16), detail.

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world, the ephemerality of Budai's own personhood, responsible for encouraging the boy Sudhana to embark on a and even toMaitreya's burden. A common belief in spiritual pilgrimage to fifty-threeenlightened Budai lorewas that his bag actually contained theTusita beings. As described in the Flower Garland Sutra, Heaven inwhich Maitreya was imagined to reside.77 Sudhana encounters Maitreya in frontof his palace at Pictorial qualities of Budai provide eloquent the beginning and towards the end of his journey. Yanxi's accompaniment to Yanxi's performative eulogy high statement can be interpreted in several ways, but at its above it.The composition presents its subject in a core appears to question whether or not Sudhana will manner that encapsulates his mythic image, that of be able achieve ideal reclusiveness, or a state of grace, the itinerant and mirthful stooge, staging him inmid or find inner Buddhahood upon concluding his quest. It journey?strongly implied by the directional gust of is precisely thismode of sophistry that gets featured in air?and in the midst of some kind of good-humored Chan inscriptions: Yanxi may not know the answer, but exclamation. Budai's subjection to the spectral tones he gets to pose the question. The purpose of the painting of apparition painting, however, calibrates the figure's is to create the conditions under which this is done to appearance more closely to Yanxi's oratory. His gentle best advantage. grisaille suggests such transience that the body itself, Whether or not a more properly doctrinal framework like the visual sediment of something thatwas once can be articulated for the leading questions of Chan more palpable, practically radiates the question of monks is unclear. Other Chan exemplars recruited from Budai's identity.This vestigial quality is reinforced by the ranks of folk belief and local cult worship were the charcoal accents of his harlequin face, which emit also imagined as incarnations of more mainstream a half-life that furthercomplicates the question of the Buddhist , such as Hanshan (Manjusri) and Shide own exemplar's true nature by generating its unique (Samantabhadra). More generally, this type of layered version a contrast of chiaroscuro, tonal suggesting identity could be positioned within the long-standing an answer. on deposits of inner In this regard, the pole concept of the "three bodies of the Buddha" theory. a his shoulder is determinative stroke, the coup de grace According to this idea, the Buddha body manifested of the painting, itsdarkness legible as heaviness, a foil itself in three differentways based on the status of more that emphasizes all the the argentine incorporeality the onlooker?the manifested body (S. nirmanakaya), of itsowner. This is in Budai thewake of himself. represented by the historical Buddha Sakyamuni, the Yanxi comes as Guangwen through the bearer of reward body (S. sambhogakaya), acquired as a result in special wisdom his verse-eulogies. The Fukuoka of unselfish acts of compassion, and finally the true or Budai him as an frames oracle who recognizes that there dharma body (S. dharmakaya). Perception of these three is a surplus meaning behind thewiseacre demeanor. states depended upon the state of spiritual awareness His other follow a inscriptions similar pattern. To the of the beholder, with the Buddha's dharma body only Museum Budai he thus states: "I can to Tokugawa (fig. 3) accessible those who had achieved awakening. In a forgive your in thisworld with different face, Chan discourse, the Buddha's three bodies may be but not men your destruction of the homes of and understood as transposed onto other members of the women."78 As with the Fukuoka Budai the inscription, genealogy of special transmission. In this regard, Chan admonition here refers not to are only Budai's legendary exemplars imposter deities whose concealed sanctity but also to the contrarian idea?at least to was bluster, discernible only to the spiritually attuned X-ray Buddhist in religious orthodoxy?that proselytizing vision of the most sage practitioners. Although the "Three isdestructive of the social fabric. In general this regard, Buddha Bodies" maps neatly onto this idea, itmay the ultimate is tarred as the ultimate serve as an Maitreya, addressee, ultimately officious way of understanding of mainstream Buddhist a more representative teachings. general rhetoric of Chan pictorial commentary, toboth theBudai and which a Similarly, byZhiweng (fig.5) by presupposes sliding scale of accessibility to the Li Que (fig. 15), Yanxi asks: "After Sudhana has leftthe truthof appearances. will he know how to return to a jeweled palace, greener Even when Chan painting subject does not Here Budai is addressed in his more a more pastures?" again camouflage intrinsic identity,the monks who as the Bodhisattva the on a more primal identity Maitreya, deity versified itsuggest essential interiority or insight recessed from vision. And while other monochrome ink serve as 77. Onishi, "Hotei zu ko" (see note 75). figuremodes could arenas 78. See the loose modern for this discourse of Japanese translation of IriyaYoshitaka in disambiguation, apparition "Ko Chokufu Hotei zu" (note 74), 34. its p. painting, with weathered hues and expiring sheens,

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is particularly effective in enabling it.The mirage of the mundane is pantomimed by itsposes and incarnate in its incorporeality. Most importantly, the Zhirong mode intimates that there is something just beyond the image, an ontology just beyond accessibility. Rather than communicate nihility, itshuelessness insinuates some kind of latent subtext. Transparency of tone generates an opacity of meaning, but nevertheless always with the (faint) possibility of revelation. In apparition painting, the precise nature of this revelation is less important than the intimation, by painterly means, that itsdisclosure is possible but not necessarily imminent. It is a "structure of almost," inwhich the not quite unfathomable truth is implied by the not quite invisible representation.

Apparition painting does not seem to have long survived the Song-Yuan transition. The surviving corpus of Chan figure painting trends in a different direction. These tendencies are best represented by two monk painters believed to be active in the Jiangnan region from the early to mid-fourteenth century, both of non Chinese origin. The first,Mokuan Rei'en (d. 1345), was a Japanese pilgrim-monk whose few surviving works portray Chan eccentrics in the more volumetric figural mode of Muqi. As witnessed in The Four Sleepers (fig. 19), Mokuan's subjects are depicted with a massing of short, swelling, and undulating strokes that generate an appreciably different effect from the wraithlike figures , of apparition painting.79 The second, Yintuoluo (active in the fourteenth century), was apparently of Indian origin whose works were characterized by extreme simplicity ^^^^^^^ of form and a lightgrotesquerie (fig. 20). His figures develop to an extreme the impish, mischievous quality thatwas often lurking in paintings of Chan eccentrics in the Neither would be as a previous century.80 recognized 19.Mokuan Rei'en (d. 1345), The Four to follower of Figure Sleepers, early Zhirong. on x mid-fourteenth century. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 104.0 The reasons for the demise of apparition painting 32.4 cm,Maeda Ikutokukai,Tokyo. are obscure and will likely remain so. One reason that has been posited is the ongoing professionalization of monk-painters inChan milieus, a phenomenon that placed pressure on amateurizing modes in general.81 The paradigm for the professional Chan monk-painter isMuqi, who was active in the mid- to late-thirteenth 79. SeeYoshiaki Shimizu, "Problems of Moku'an Rei'en (?1323? century and whose repertoire included tonally 1345)" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1974). 80. Yintuoluo's painting is thoroughly explored inYoshiaki Shimizu, sophisticated landscapes, technically accomplished on "Six Narrative Paintings by Yin T'o-lo: Their Symbolic Content," dragons and tigers, and bodhisattvas silk. Associated Archives of Asian Art 33 (1980):6-37. with prominent abbots such asWuzhun and Yanxi, 81. For this idea of see Toda Teisuke, professionalization, "Sogen Muqi went on to establish a standard for excellence in Zenso" (note 49); Toda Teisuke, "Mokkei josetsu," inMokkei Gyokkan, vol. 3 of Suiboku bijutsu taikei, ed. Toda Teisuke (Tokyo: Kodansha, reflection on in Chan see 1975), pp. 39-66; and EbineToshio, Gendai Doshaku jinbutsuga developments Yuan-period figure painting zu" (Tokyo: Tokyo National Museum, 1977), esp. pp. 40-76. For a recent Shiga, "Mujuji hitsu ChoyoTaigetsu (note 7).

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on x Figure 20. Yintuoluo (act. fourteenth century), Hanshan andShide, fourteenth century. Hanging scroll, ink paper, 35.2 49.7 cm, Tokyo National Museum.

monochrome inkpainting that reverberated inChan itself.The degree towhich there is a doctrinal or stylistic circles well into the fourteenth century. It is also possible basis for something called Chan or Zen painting has was that apparition painting absorbed by other historical been the subject of much debate and cannot be fully modes into indistinction. These other modes may have addressed here.82 At the very least, however, apparition included not only Chan figure styles, but scholar painting painting enabled the development of a Chan/Zen subject as as well, the association of Gong Kai with Zhirong position during the Song period. Among other ways, this suggests. subject position expressed itself through commentary case Whatever the may be, apparition painting on the brush arts, and was most clearly manifest in a appears to represent brief chapter in the history of paintings of figures closely associated with the Chan Chinese figural painting. Confined to the circles of . Yet in theory any subject could several Chan monks in the leading Chan monasteries be addressed. No matter what the theme, the Chan of Lin'an and Siming during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the lifeof was as apparition painting fleeting 82. See, for example, the essays by Dietrich Seckel and Yoshiaki as its this ithas come to appearance. Despite brevity, Shimizu inZen in China, japan, , vol. 8 in Swiss Asian Studies, be closely associated with the idea of "Chan painting" ed. Helmut Brinker et al. (Berne: Peter Lang, 1985).

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voice could be sure to particularize itselfwithin the larger field of scholarly commentary by drawing upon the sizable Chan literatureof lamp histories, koan, and recorded sayings that accumulated during the course of the Song. Thus widely circulating painting subjects such as oxen, monkeys, and bamboo were framed with reference to theirmetaphorization inChan texts. Ifnot through specific reference, however, the Chan subject position could be performed through surprising twists of expression or other rhetorical acts that disclosed the awakened credentials of the brush wielder. Whatever us as itsmanifestation, this subject isonly knowable to an inscriptive practice or literarydevice. But this does not mean ithad no visual component. On the contrary, the calligraphic mannerisms developed by many a prominent Chan monks surely played considerable role in how their brush traces were experienced.83 And among pictorial complements, apparition painting was most masterfully facilitated the exceptionalism that associated with this voice. In this regard, the proximity Li of the Zhirong mode to scholar painting and the Gonglin tradition is revealing. Apparition painting enabled theChan/Zen subject position by borrowing from established painterly conventions, but managed new to defamiliarize them through the introduction of wrinkles and inflections. In doing so, itsown alterity became a source of inscrutability and enchantment to the initiated and uninitiated alike.

Chan see 83. For the of Song- and Yuan-period monks, Uta Lauer, A Master of His Own: The Calligraphy of the Chan Abbot Fritz Zhongfeng Mingben (1262-1322) (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2002).

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